The Meghalaya High Court on Thursday granted bail and suspended the sentence imposed upon the petitioner by the General Assam Rifles Court till the final disposal of the main petition.
K.K. Singh, counsel for the petitioner, who has submitted before the High Court that a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been preferred before this Court by the petitioner against the conviction order passed by the General Assam Rifles Court, wherein in court-martial proceedings, the petitioner was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year and was also to be dismissed from service.
The said petition is pending for adjudication before the High Court. In the meantime, the petitioner has sought suspension of his sentence and to be allowed to be released on bail pending disposal of the said petition.
It is also submitted that the petitioner has already undergone 183 days of imprisonment of the total punishment of one year and as such, by well established principles of bail jurisprudence and also well settled pronouncement of various courts of this country, the sentence of the petitioner may be suspended at this juncture and he may be released on bail with any condition to be imposed by this Court.
The Counsel for the petitioner on a query by the High Court has submitted that the High Court exercising powers under Article 226 in cases of this kind has the power to suspend the sentence and to grant bail to the applicant. The case of Col. Harish Chandra Goswamy v. Union of India & Ors: 1989 SCC Online Del 387 wherein the Delhi High Court on an application seeking interim relief during the pendency of the criminal writ petition preferred by the petitioner herein who has been found guilty in the proceedings held by the General Court-martial and has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment of two years, has, on consideration of the submission made held that the High Court has got the power to grant interim relief during the pendency of the main writ petition on merits and has accordingly, suspended the sentence and granted bail to the petitioner.
Another limb of argument of the counsel for the petitioner is that the petitioner has a family of three minor children along with his wife who is ailing and has to be looked after and as such, if not released on bail, he will not be able to take care of the family, besides the fact that the family members of the petitioner have been asked to vacate the family quarters by 01.07.2022.
N. Mozika, Additional Solicitor General of India (ASG), for the respondents has not made any strong objection to the prayer of the petitioner, but has only submitted that the petitioner may be directed to vacate the family quarter before the date fixed i.e. 01.07.2022.
On consideration of the submission made, the Single Bench of Justice W. Diengdoh, persuaded by the decision of the Delhi High Court cited above, holds that power can be exercised under Article 226 to grant interim relief to the petitioner by directing for suspension of the sentence and to allow the petitioner to be released on bail.
“Accordingly, this petition is allowed. The sentence imposed upon the petitioner by the General Assam Rifles Court dated 12.02.2022 is hereby suspended pending final disposal of the main petition,” the order reads.